sammie Wrote: > Ok, all set to order the new squeeze box 3, have it modded by Boulder > Cable, and get to work burning my entire CD Collection w/ EAC. But > this is all new to me, so I need some answers to a lot of questions and > nudges in the right direction. See Wayne's statements in his forum over at Audio Circle. He seems to think that the SB3 maybe less friendly to modding due to less space within the case for components. I'm not sure he's actually seen the insides of one yet, though.
> I own a laptop with a 60GB HD. Not enough for the music > collection...so, I'll need to buy an external HD. I was looking at > 300GB Maxtor drives. I have no idea what kind of DVD RW drive I have. > I have read that Plextor DVD drives will burn better quality copies. Burning copies is really a separate issue from setting up your music network. You don't need a CD burner to extract (or "rip") the digital files from your CDs. > I have wireless router located in basement (I live in an old house, no > cable outlets upstairs). > > #1 Does the HD need to be plugged into the computer or can I place it > downstairs next to router + plug it into the router? You can do this, but you'll need additional hardware other than just a bare hard drive. This is generally called "Network Attached Storage" (NAS) or sometimes a "network hard drive". One example: http://westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=150&Language=en > #2 Is the wireless network cabable of handling streaming large music > files, like full tracks from burned CD? Yes, easily. Even 802.11b has 7x the bandwidth you need for streaming uncompressed WAV files (and more if you stream compressed FLAC). 802.11g is much better. > #3 Does computer need to be turned on to listen to burned CD's on HD if > HD is plugged into router? Yes. You must be running SlimServer on some computer. SlimServer is the brains. The idea behind the "Slim" Devices Squeezebox is that the playback box has minimal intelligence and most everything is controlled by SlimServer. > #4 Is this a reliable way to listen to music, or am I setting myself up > for frustration? It can be extremely reliable, although there can be bugaboos due to network interference and the odd problem that arises. I think you have to be prepared to deal with troubleshooting such problems, but can expect that 95% of Squeezebox users may never have any to deal with. > #5 Is it neccessary to buy Plextor drive or will the drive I have now do > just fine? Your drive will probably be fine. It may not be the fastest in the world at ripping CDs, but you can test that at any time. Get a different drive only if you need faster rips. -- JJZolx Jim _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
